The +3 doesn't know about High Density (1.44MB) diskettes so you need to use Double Density (720K) ones, aka "blue floppies". These can be bought online, I don't know if they're still being manufactured anywhere or just new old stock. You can also cheat and tape over the hole on a HD diskette to make it appear as a DD one. This may or may not work, and the data may not stay forever (or it might be fine! but better safe than sorry if you save anything vaguely important on them). If you're just going to use a single diskette to "ferry" files from a PC to 3" disks then this is a perfectly adequate solution.

The +3 doesn't know about High Density (1.44MB) diskettes so you need to use Double Density (720K) ones, aka "blue floppies". These can be bought online, I don't know if they're still being manufactured anywhere or just new old stock. You can also cheat and tape over the hole on a HD diskette to make it appear as a DD one. This may or may not work, and the data may not stay forever (or it might be fine! but better safe than sorry if you save anything vaguely important on them). If you're just going to use a single diskette to "ferry" files from a PC to 3" disks then this is a perfectly adequate solution.

−

====Disk Images====

+

====Formatting====

−

There are various software tools to write DSK images to physical diskettes, and individual files to +3 formatted diskettes.

+

DSDD diskettes can be formatted as 720k DOS disks or with one of a variety of formats that the +3DOS can use.

−

The other option (if you just want to "ferry" files from the PC to the +3 and save them on drive A:) is to format the disks to 720k DOS format and use a tool on the +3 to copy the files from the DOS floppy to the +3 format floppy in drive A: (or to the ram disk and then back onto a +3 formatted 3.5" disk in B:)

+

+

=====+3DOS format disks=====

+

3.5" disks can be formatted in a variety of different capacities as CP/M disks. The +3 ROM cannot format 3.5" disks itself so either a utility is required on the +2 (such as [http://www.worldofspectrum.org/zxplus3e/software.html#mformat|The Spectrum +3 Multiformatter] by Garry Lancaster), or the disk must be prepared on the PC.

+

+

=====DOS format disks=====

+

to access a DOS formatted 720k disk on the +3 you can use [http://www.worldofspectrum.org/zxplus3e/software.html#msdos Garry Lancaster's MSDOS utility]

+

This will allow you to "log on" to a DOS format disk in drive B: and copy files from it to a +3DOS formatted 3" disk in drive A:

====Writing Images====

====Writing Images====

Line 72:

Line 78:

====Writing individual files====

====Writing individual files====

To write individual files to a +3 formatted diskette (or dsk file) you can use [http://www.cpctech.org.uk/download/cpcxfs.zip cpcxfs]

To write individual files to a +3 formatted diskette (or dsk file) you can use [http://www.cpctech.org.uk/download/cpcxfs.zip cpcxfs]

−

−

====DOS format disks====

−

to access a DOS formatted 720k disk on the +3 you can use [http://www.worldofspectrum.org/zxplus3e/software.html#msdos Garry Lancaster's MSDOS utility]

−

This will allow you to "log on" to a DOS format disk in drive B: and copy files from it to drive A:

The +3 External Drive Connector

The "Disk B: connector on the +3 is slightly non standard and there is an error in the manual which adds to the confusion. The connector is rotated through 180 degrees so pin 1 is at the top right rather than the bottom left (looking in from the rear of the computer). The indexing slot is also at the opposite end to normal, instead between pins 31/32 and 33/34, this means that a keyed floppy cable will only fit in the wrong orientation unless the key is (re)moved.

External drive connector pinout (viewed from rear of computer)

33

31

29

27

25

23

21

19

17

15

13

11

9

7

5

3

1

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

GND

READY

HD_SEL

RD

WR_PROT

TRACK0

WR_GATE

WR_DATA

STEP

DIR_IN

MTR_ON

NC

DRIVE1

NC

INDEX

NC

NC

NC

34

32

30

28

26

24

22

20

18

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

Connecting the Amstrad FD-1

The Amstrad FD-1 external FDD is an external drive manufactured for the Amstrad CPC range of computers. The unit is mains powered and contains a single sided 3" drive like the one in the +3.
The main thing to be aware of when using these units with the +3 is that they place a 5v supply on four of the pins (needed to power the DDI-1 disk interface for the CPC464). This could cause issues if the connector is reversed when connecting to the +3. The 5v can be disconnected inside the FD-1 by unplugging the 0.1" latched connector from the small 34-26 pin ribbon adapter board at the rear of the unit.

Connecting a modern 3.5" FDD

Cable

An example of a suitable cable

Using a toggle switch to apply the Ready signal

To connect a normal PC floppy drive as "drive B:" to the +3 you need a ribbon cable with an edge connector at one end, and an IDC connector at the other.

Modern floppy drives don't provide the old "Ready" signal, so the ready line needs shorting to ground to signal to the spectrum that the drive is ready (adding a switch here is a good idea otherwise the spectrum won't start up unless there's a disk in the drive).

Drive

Any modern 3.5" floppy drive will work as drive B: with the above proviso, you must create a ready signal for the spectrum otherwise it won't work.
All modern drives are hard wired to appear as drive B: (hence the "twist" cable in a PC to make it appear as drive A:) so the cable is just a straight through wiring of all the signals.

Media

The +3 doesn't know about High Density (1.44MB) diskettes so you need to use Double Density (720K) ones, aka "blue floppies". These can be bought online, I don't know if they're still being manufactured anywhere or just new old stock. You can also cheat and tape over the hole on a HD diskette to make it appear as a DD one. This may or may not work, and the data may not stay forever (or it might be fine! but better safe than sorry if you save anything vaguely important on them). If you're just going to use a single diskette to "ferry" files from a PC to 3" disks then this is a perfectly adequate solution.

Formatting

DSDD diskettes can be formatted as 720k DOS disks or with one of a variety of formats that the +3DOS can use.

+3DOS format disks

3.5" disks can be formatted in a variety of different capacities as CP/M disks. The +3 ROM cannot format 3.5" disks itself so either a utility is required on the +2 (such as Spectrum +3 Multiformatter by Garry Lancaster), or the disk must be prepared on the PC.

DOS format disks

to access a DOS formatted 720k disk on the +3 you can use Garry Lancaster's MSDOS utility
This will allow you to "log on" to a DOS format disk in drive B: and copy files from it to a +3DOS formatted 3" disk in drive A:

Writing Images

3.5" diskettes

To access +3 formatted disks and format disks to this format on Windows NT you will need the FDrawcmd driver by simon owen. This will only work with real floppy drives, not USB floppy drives attached to laptops.
A good utility for writing the images is John Elliot's dsktool.